Bulletin for
Biblical Research 6
(1996) 15-22
Copyright © 1996 by the Institute for
Biblical Research. Cited with
permission.
The Gender and
Motives
of the Wisdom
Teacher
in Proverbs
7
The
assumption that objectivity is an illusion is often asserted as if it were
objectively
true. Nevertheless, it is true that male and female commentators
sometimes
allow gender based biases to hinder their attempts to understand
biblical
texts in their original contexts. Both gender based and western cul-
ture
derived assumptions have adversely colored interpreters' understanding
of
the gender and motives of the wisdom teacher in Proverbs 7. This paper
takes
a fresh look at the issues and concludes that the teacher is a F(emale)
voice
whose strategy of changing men's sexual behavior is consistent with
high
female self esteem and, if successful, would have strengthened the entire
community.
Key
Words: Proverbs, wisdom, gender
One
of the givens of much contemporary biblical scholarship is that
there
is no such thing as an objective reading of a text. This conviction
is akin to the often dogmatically held view
that truth is never abso-
lute.
Both of these precepts are propounded as if they were objective,
absolute truths. If this were true, however,
the dogmas themselves
would be proven false. If it is not true, then
the validity of these views
is also undercut.
Feminist biblical scholars, including
myself, are often quick to
point
out the subtle and sometimes not so subtle androcentric,
even
sexist biases of our male colleagues. These biases sometimes hinder
the
commentator's attempts to hear the text unencumbered by twen-
tieth
century perspectives and issues.
In a similar way the subtle and sometimes
not so subtle gynocen-
tric,
even sexist biases, of feminist interpreters sometimes adversely
affect
interpretive work. In addition, contemporary western values
shared
by both male and female scholars color the way we read, erod-
ing
our ability to understand texts in their own historical, cultural,
16 Bulletin for Biblical Research 6
and
sociological context and ultimately to consider their implications
for
today. These problems are illustrated in recent work on the gender
and
motives of the wisdom teacher in Proverbs 7.
Biblical commentators have generally
assumed that the implied voice
of
the wisdom teacher who instructs son(s) to avoid the iššâ zārâ,
the
"strange" woman,1 in Proverbs 7 is male.2 Feminist interpreters
have
for the most part agreed with this consensus, though often with
negative
assessments of the wisdom teacher's motivations.3 Athalya
Brenner
and Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes have raised the possibility
that
the wisdom teacher is implicitly a female voice. They cite the
ancient
Near Eastern tradition of the female rebuker4 and the fact that
the speaker looks through a window at a scene
below, an action that
is
much more frequently associated with women than men.5 They, like
their
feminist sisters who criticize the supposed male teacher's psy-.
[1] The translation used here is simply for convenience.
The term is multivalent, though
in the various contexts
in which it is used in Proverbs it is clear that the "strange"
woman is one who is
involved in illicit sexual relations. See Claudia V. Camp, "What's
So Strange About the
Strange Woman?" The Bible and the Politics of Exegesis: Essays
in Honor of Norman K. Gottwald on His
Sixty-Fifth Birthday (ed. David Jobling, Peggy L. Day, and Gerald T.
Sheppard;
2
See James
L. Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction (
John
Knox, 1981) 87; William McKane, Proverbs: A New Approach (
1970)
332-41; R.B.Y. Scott, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (AB 18;
1965)
15, R. N. Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs (SBT 45; London: SCM, 1965) 33,
and
The composition of the Book of Proverbs (JSOTSup 168; Sheffield:
JSOT Press, 1994) 56.
3 See e.g., Claudia Camp,
"What's So Strange About the Strange Woman," in which
she views the male
teacher as expressing male fears of female sexuality. See also Carol
Newsom, "Woman and
the Discourse of Patriarchal Wisdom: A Study of Proverbs 1-9,"
Gender and
Difference in Ancient
142-60; Carole R.
Fontaine, "Proverbs," The Woman's Bible Commentary (
WestIninster/Knox,
1993) 146-48; Kathleen O'Connor, The Wisdom Literature (The
Message of Biblical
Spirituality 5;
Yee," 'I Have
Perfumed My Bed With Myrrh': the Foreign Woman (iššâ zārâ) in
Proverbs 1-9,"
JSOT 43 (1989) 53-68.
4
See S. D. Goitein, "Women as Creators of Biblical Genres,"
Prooftexts 8 (1988) 1-33.
5 Athalya Brenner and Fokkelien van
Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts: Female
and
Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible (Leiden: Brill, 1993) 57-62, 113-26; and
Athalya
Brenner,
"Some Observations on the Figurations of Women in Wisdom Literature,"
Of
Prophets'
Visions and the Wisdom of Sages: Essays in Honour of R. Norman Whybray
on His Seventieth Birthday (JSOTSup 162; Heather A.
McKay and David J. A. Clines,
eds.;
The one exception to the generalization that
women look out windows is Gen 26:8
where
Abimelech sees through his window Isaac fondling Rebekah. The biblical examples
of
women looking out of windows are Michal (2 Sam 6:16; 1 Chr 15:29), Jezebel (2
Kgs 9:30),
and
Sisera's mother (Judg 5:28). Brenner points out that the literary figure of the
woman at
the window is substantiated by archaeological
finds, in particular the
Gendering
Texts,
120).
BELLIS: The
Gender and Motives of the Wisdom Teacher
17
chology,
also negatively assess the supposed female teacher's ideology.
Both
see the female wisdom teacher as having internalized androcen-
tric
values. Van Dijk-Hemmes writes,
The
voices of admonishing and rebuking women which can be heard
in
Proverbs, are not in disagreement with… androcentric discourse.
They are
the voices of women who have internalized this discourse.1
Brenner
writes,
I am
aware that even when my reading is deemed viable it can
nevertheless
be argued that the textual voice is an M [=male] voice,
presented as typically guarding paternity and
its ensuing morality.
Could it not, however, be the reflected dominant
voice of a culture as it
is introjected by F [=female] participants of
that same culture…? The
price, here as in other passages in Proverbs, is
the subscription of an
identifiable F voice to misogyny and
self-inflicted gender depreciation
and gender disparagement.2
How
the wisdom teacher's injunction against the "strange" woman
guards
paternity is not entirely clear. Indeed, androcetric Israelite
society
seemed to tolerate a certain amount of promiscuity on the part
of
its men as long as the sexual partner was not a married woman---
the
infamous double standard. This standard assured men that their
wives'
children were their own, while giving them the freedom to
enjoy
other women sexually, typically prostitutes who operated on
the
margins of society.3
Thus, the voice that teaches son(s) to
avoid the "strange" woman
is
not necessarily any more an internalized androcentric one than the
voices
of twentieth century feminists who challenge the remnants of
the
same double standard today. Rather, such a voice can be under-
stood
to provide an alternative to norms that were oppressive to
women.
There is a difference, however, between
modem feminists'
strategies
and the ancient Hebrew wisdom teacher's approach to un-
dercutting
the double standard. Generally, modem feminists wish to
increase
sexual freedom for women. The wisdom teacher in Proverbs
7
is trying to decrease male sexual freedom.4 Either strategy, if effec-
tive,
could lead to a more egalitarian ethic; however, the ancient
[1] Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes, "Traces of Women's
Texts in the Hebrew Bible," On
Gendering Texts, 62.
2 Athalya Brenner, "Proverbs 1-9: An F Voice?," On
Gendering Texts, 125-26.
3 See Phyllis Bird, "To Play the Harlot: An Inquiry into
a Biblical Metaphor," Gender
and
Difference,
77-79.
4 It is also quite possible that the strange woman comes to
represent foreign gods as
well as illicit sexuality as many have
suggested, but the sexual meaning is the most
obvious
and probably the original meaning.
18 Bulletin for
Biblical Research 6
Hebrew
teacher's approach is clearly a more restrictive one than that
of
many modern feminists.
Brenner's discomfort with this
restrictiveness may be reflected in
the
following statement that she makes :
Within the literary F voice, F self interest is
silent through identifica-
tion with M interest; control over female
sexuality is recommended at
least implicitly; maternal possessiveness merges
with the internalized
M voice
for the purpose of preserving an existing world order and
worldview.1
What
Brenner calls F self-interest is unstated, but it would seem to be
sexual
freedom. This is suggested by her concern about what she
terms
"control over female sexuality," a particularly odd designation
since
what the teacher is advocating is really male sexual self-control.
It
is true that such self-control would result in less female sexual
activity,
but to call this result "control over female sexuality" obscures
the
fact that the speaker IS trying to control the sexual behavior of
males,
not females. A man's choice not to engage in sexual relations
with
a woman can hardly be considered controlling female sexuality
any
more than a woman's choice not to engage in sexual relations
with
a man should be called controlling male sexuality. Brenner's
shifting
the emphasis in the passage only makes sense if her under-
lying
concern is sexual freedom in general and female sexual freedom
in
particular.
Sexual freedom for both men and women
combined with compe-
tent
birth control may make sense in a modern western setting where
children
are not economic necessities but rather may be viewed as
expensive
luxuries.2 In a largely
agrarian economy where children
were
highly valued commodities and where birth control was proba-
[1] Brenner, "Proverbs 1-9: an F Voice?,"
125-26.
2 This view is prevalent
today. Nevertheless, several realities mitigate against it. The
risk
of AIDS makes sexual freedom a dangerous game, even when so-called safe sex is
practiced.
Moreover, recent studies indicate that women are more likely to achieve
orgasm
in long-term monogamous relationships than in short-term ones. Finally,
although
children
are not the economic necessity to the family in postindustrial society that
they
are
in more agriculturally based economies, modern western society's failure to put
a
high
priority on children, to the point that one in five children in the
up
in poverty, is creating social problems that affect everyone. Without a supply
of
healthy,
well-educated future adults, the future looks bleak.
My rejection of the
common view is no doubt colored by my personal situation. I am
a married woman with
two daughters. My husband and I both devote many hours
to our children who are
bright and multi-talented. Although we are privileged
economically,
educationally, and socially, we must still stretch ourselves to what
seem like our
financial, emotional, and energetic limits to provide what we consider
the optimum environment for their development.
Parenting is not easy, but it is
important not only to
the lives of individual children but also to the society in
which they live.
BELLIS: The
Gender and Motives of the Wisdom Teacher
19
bly
not highly developed for that very reason, what made sense in
terms
of sexual behavior was perhaps a little different from prevalent
attitudes
in the west today.
The book of Proverbs probably came into
its final form in the
postexilic
period, although much of the material in it may go back to
earlier
periods. Although particular verses may reflect later dates,
the
concerns that run through Proverbs 1-9 in general and are found
specifically
in Proverbs 7 regarding illicit sexuality could make sense
at
almost any period of
Hebrew society was agriculturally based,
even in the postexilic
period.
In agrarian economies many children are needed to work the
land
and provide for family members who are too old to work any
longer.
Because infant mortality was high, many children had to be
born
to ensure that a few would live to adulthood. Much of the bur-
den
of producing children fell to women, who not only gave birth but
also
nursed the children in their early years.
Although women may have done much manual
labor in addition
to
their child nurturing responsibilities,1 they could not survive
alone.
They needed a partner, a helper, with whom to share the load.
A
womanizing man would in one way or another divert a portion of
his
material resources and energy in another direction, thus dimin-
ishing
the life of the family, including the woman. It may be difficult
for
modern westerners, who are accustomed to a more individual-
istic
approach to life, to appreciate the communal, cooperative organ-
ization
that apparently prevailed in ancient
moderns
realize that a two parent household is generally better
for
the children and makes for easier parenting than single parent
arrangements.
Thus it can be argued that it was in
ancient Hebrew women's self-
interest
for men to be monogamous. Although there is much in the
Hebrew
Bible that is androcentric and misogynistic, Proverbs 7 may
be
read as a voice subversive of "patriarchy," understood here in the
sense
of the double standard. Ironically, this conclusion strengthens
the
arguments of Brenner and van Dijk-Hemmes that the voice of the
wisdom
teacher in Proverbs 7 is a female voice. It is less likely that an
Israelite
man, the primary beneficiary of the double standard, would
have
argued against it.3 It is
more likely that those who opposed it
were
women.
[1] Carol Meyers, Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite
Women in Context (
2 Ibid, 123-24.
3 The only suggestion I have found as to what might motivate a
male writer to
advise
son(s) against relationships with the strange women is offered by Leo G. Perdue
20 Bulletin for
Biblical Research 6
This assumes that the self-interest of
either gender was a more
significant
motivating factor than the interests of the group. Much
modern
western analysis makes this kind of unexamined assump-
tion,
which in effect reads twentieth century individualistic values
and
gender battles into ancient
orientation
of the Hebrews, one could easily argue that the motive-
tion
behind the wisdom teacher's advice in Proverbs 7 is not narrowly
construed
female self-interest, but rather the preservation and health
of
the community, which in turn would benefit all of its individual
members.
One
could argue then that the gender of the wisdom teacher in
Proverbs
7 is either impossible to determine or irrelevant. Certainly, it
is
impossible to be certain of the gender of the speaker in Proverbs 7,
though
we may nevertheless still find clues concerning the implied
speaker.
Here Brenner and van Dijk-Hemmes's arguments are help-
ful.
The question of relevance is of another sort. If the clues suggest
that
the speaker is a female voice, that is of interest to modem read-
ers
for whom gender concerns are often burning issues.
A number of questions must still be
addressed if the hypothesis of
a
female voice in Proverbs 7 is to be accepted. It might seem odd that
a
female wisdom teacher, whose aim was ill part to end the double
standard,
would address son(s) rather than daughters. Would she not
have
been more successful counseling young women to shun liaisons
with
young men? The reality was probably otherwise. To the extent
that
the "strange" women that the teacher had in mind were prosti-
tutes,
counseling them to change professions would have been about
as
effective as advising the unemployed to get a job.1 Married women
and
single women living in their father's houses were already heavily
socialized
against promiscuity. Advising them was in most cases like
who suggests that the
motivation might be "the sapiential disdain of which passions
were given free rein.
Thus, for example, ecstatic religious behavior would characterize
the ‘heated man’, but
not the true sage, the 'silent man'. (Wisdom and Cult: A Critical
Analysis of the
Views of Cult in the Wisdom Literature of
[SBLDS 30;
but without textual
support, it sounds more like a modern concern for control than a
truly ancient
motivation.
[1] Prostitutes, then and now, are usually persons
marginalized by society. They are often
products of families
that cannot or do not provide for their needs and of societies that
have weak safety nets.
In ancient
familial home to which they could return after
the deaths of their husbands. Although
the prophets admonished
the people to care for the widows, orphans, and sojourners,
it is fair to assume that such preachments
were honored m the breach. In most cases
prostitution is a career to which one turns in
desperation; it is rarely a profession of choice.
BELLIS: The
Gender and Motives of the Wisdom Teacher
21
preaching
to the converted. Those whose attitudes needed to be
changed
were men, not women.1
Still, some may feel that there is
something of self-hatred in
advice
given by a woman teacher to son(s) to avoid the seductions of
"strange"
women. However, self-esteem does not require one to pre-
tend
that every member of one's group is worthy of praise. I am a cit-
izen
of the
do
not believe that all the behavior of all my fellow citizens is above
reproach.
If I argued that all
imply
that I am very insecure about my national identity. Only when
our
egos are strong can we tolerate self-criticism.2
Nevertheless, the admonition to young men
to avoid "strange"
women
is itself strange, given the fact that there are more stories in
the
Hebrew Bible of men raping women than of women (prostitutes
or
otherwise) seducing men3 and that the historical reality was prob-
ably
even more skewed in that direction. Interestingly, except for the
story
of Tamar's seduction of
no
specific stories of Hebrew men consorting with prostitutes. Gomer
might
appear to be an exception, but she is not called a zônâ and may
be
understood as a promiscuous woman rather than a prostitute. The
Hebrew
spies who stay at Rahab's house may have been mixing busi-
ness
with pleasure, but the text does not say so directly. In spite of the
lack
of stories dealing with prostitution in the Hebrew Bible, it is
clear
that prostitution existed, was tolerated, and was probably more
[1] We may ask what kind of men the wisdom teacher addresses:
single men,
married
men, or perhaps any man who was vulnerable to the seductions of a
"strange"
woman. Since life expectancy was short, the need to produce offspring
high, and the educational years for the
average male brief, we may assume that
men
usually married, young. Thus, most young men probably were not sexually
mature
for very long before, they were married. It is likely, therefore, that
premarital
sex
was less a problem than sexual activity outside of marriage and that the
primary
audience
of the wisdom teacher in Proverbs 7 was married men. Not only were they
the
most numerous, they were also the most critical to the maintenance of families
and
thus to the health of the community. This conclusion does not preclude the
possibility
that the teacher spoke to all men, married and single. By indoctrinating
young
unmarried men against sexual liaisons with "strange" women, the
wisdom
teacher hoped to engender a habit that would
follow the men into their marriages.
[1] It may seem
contradictory that in note 15 I argued that prostitutes did not choose
their professions and thus may be seen as
victims rather than immoral characters
and
now I argue that it is not contrary to one's self-esteem to be critical of
certain
members of one's group (i.e., prostitutes).
Society may force women into prostitution;
however,
that does not mean that their behavior is praiseworthy or that one should
do
business with them.
2 Tamar is raped by her
half-brother Amnon, and the Levite's woman is brutally
gang-raped
and murdered.
though
the offer is refused. According to many interpretations, Dipah is raped by
Shechem,
but for another view of this story, see Lyn Bechtel, "What if Dinah Is Not
Raped?
(Genesis 34)," 'SOT 62 (1994) 19-36.
Potephar's
wife makes an unsuccessful attempt to seduce Joseph, and
daughter-in-law
Tamar pretends to be a prostitute in order to be impregnated by
22 Bulletin for
Biblical Research 6
widespread
than rape. Rape was a crime with harsh penalties. Pros-
titution
was less offensive but probably negatively impacted more
women
than did rape. Since prostitutes in most cases had no other
means
of support, the only way to stop prostitution was to induce
men
to stop seeking the services of prostitutes.1
Here,
we may surmise that the wisdom teacher is using a bit of
psychology.
(S)he counsels men to be strong enough not to allow
themselves
to be seduced, rather than nagging them to avoid the
pleasures
of the "strange" woman.
Perhaps
in a different world where men were not more powerful
physically,
economically, and politically than women, such a psycho-
logically
savvy approach would not be essential to
success. In the
world
of the Hebrew Bible, the (female) wisdom teacher's strategy can
be
understood as carefully calculated to change men's sexual behavior
in
a way consistent with high female self-esteem. Such a change
would
not only enhance the lives of many women but strengthen the
entire
community. Whether in fact the strategy worked is hard to
gauge.
The teaching made it into the canon. That much is clear. Per-
haps
it has contributed to the destruction of the ancient double stan-
dard.
Perhaps is also contributed to the survival and health of ancient
Whether it can touch postmodern culture at
the grass-roots level
is
harder to assess. Our worlds are vastly different, yet some common-
alities
bind us together. These commonalities entice us to continue
reading
the words of ancient wisdom teachers. We read these ancient
teachers'
words not only to debate them intellectually. We look at the
texts
not simply to confirm our own values as if the text were only a
mirror
and never a window into another world. Rather we listen to
the
ancient authors to glean from them something of value for today.
In
the process we see ourselves more clearly and are challenged to
reconsider
the common "wisdom" of our day.
[1] If the wisdom teacher was successful, we must ask what would
have become
of
the prostitutes. Clearly, in the short term their lives would have been made
more
difficult.
It is unlikely, however, given human nature, that the supply of customers for
prostitutes
will ever be eliminated. If that were to happen, perhaps the same change
of
heart would provide a better social order in which women would not be driven to
such work in the first
place.
This
material is cited with gracious permission from:
Institute for Biblical
Research
Craig A. Evans (editor of BBR)
http://www.ibresearch.com/
Please report any errors
to Ted Hildebrandt at: